FREEPORT — When Pete Norman heard his daughter’s voice tremble in post-game phone calls, he thought it was about the emotion of the games.

It wasn’t until later he realized the pain in her voice wasn’t over a loss, but rather a lower back injury, which wound up affecting her leg and eventually cost her the remaining years of her basketball career.

“She would call, mostly on bus rides home, just in tears,” Pete said. “She was just in so much pain going down her leg, some nights she could hardly stand.

“First I thought she was just frustrated because she had lost a game. But it was to the point that she couldn’t take it anymore.”

Katie Norman played what would be her final year of basketball her sophomore season at Southeast Missouri State (SEMO). Norman led SEMO with 8.9 points per game in 2010-11 despite a bad back that at times left her in nearly debilitating pain.

The injury forced her to sit out all of last season and eventually robbed her of her senior season this year.

“I’ve always had back pain even back in high school, but not nearly as severe,” said Katie Norman, a former All-State guard on a balanced Freeport Pretzels team that was a two-time state runner-up in 2008-09. “I probably didn’t speak up about it soon enough where it could have helped my cause.”

Comeback try

Norman was unable to play the first three games of the 2011-12 season and was officially declared out for the season in mid November. She found out after several visits to neurosurgeons and specialists that she would need microdiscectomy surgery due to sciatica.

According to WebMD, sciatica is pain, tingling, or numbness caused by an irritation of nerve roots that lead to the sciatic nerve. The most common cause of sciatica is a herniated disc in the spine that presses against those nerves.

“I had three to four herniated discs,” Norman said. “They operated on the one that was the lowest on my back that affected all the nerves in my leg.

“I ended up losing almost 50 percent power in my leg due to nerve damage. I didn’t know going in that it was something that I was going to need back surgery for. It was very nerve-wracking, especially with it being your back.”

Both Katie and Pete understood that surgery didn’t guarantee she would be able to play again, but she tried to get clearance. And SEMO wanted her back.

“Going into this season I was real excited Katie had the surgery,” second-year SEMO coach Ty Margenthaler said. “During the conditioning, she started to have more of the same problems.

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“We talked and it really came down to long term.”

Walking away

"It was a long, hard, emotional decision,” Katie Norman said. “After meeting with doctors and trainers, my parents and coaches, they all respected me and allowed me to make the decision on my own, but gave their input.

“I wanted to play, and still wish I could have played, but I had to think more about 10 years from now and other things that I have coming in my life.”

Norman informed Margenthaler that she would retire.

“I knew she felt real bad and wanted to play under me and finish the season strong and not hang it up that way,” Margenthaler said. “But I thought that was the best decision she could have made.”

“I wasn’t really surprised, but I was still sad that we couldn’t play together our senior year,” Shiffer said. “But I understood and thought it was good she was thinking about long term.”

Moving forward

Katie was still part of the team as a player-coach this season. And as she had during Freeport’s state finals runs during her junior and senior, Norman was still a leader for her teammates.

“She was at every practice and we had her doing some passing drills,” Margenthaler said. “Her leadership helped us. She didn’t travel due to class, but she was at every home game and every practice and she was a big part of it every day.”

“It was good to hear her tell us what she saw on the court,” Shiffer said. “It was good to hear her advice coming from a player that knows what’s going on.”

Shiffer was helped most when she missed six games this season with a concussion. Norman was supportive and gave her sound advice.

“It was weird for me because I had never had an injury that made me sit out that long,” Shiffer said. “She kept my spirits up and gave me some good advice — just be patient and wait until I was better to get back out and play.”

Freeport’s Phenomenal Four of Norman, Shiffer, Suporia Dickens (Marshall) and Kelsey Hoefer (Towson University and IUPUI volleyball) all played for Division I schools and all four will likely graduate this spring, with Norman, Shiffer and Dickens going on to graduate schools.

“Where did that time go?” Pete Norman said. “That whole group has been very successful athletically, and the whole group is going to graduate and be very successful young ladies. It’s a neat deal.”

Katie is bouncing around the idea of one day coaching like her father, who led the Highland Cougars to several national JUCO tournaments.

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“I wouldn’t mind coaching but not at the Division I level,” she said. “I’m thinking maybe high school or even the junior college level, but I want to have a family. So right now that’s my thoughts, but that could obviously change.”

Norman, Shiffer and Hoefer have all likely played their final official basketball game; SEMO finished 11-18 without Norman and won’t be going to any tournaments. Dickens, who red-shirted one year, has one season left at Marshall.

But maybe the four 1,000-point career scorers at Freeport could all gather on the court together again at the Crosstown Classic some time in the future.

“I would definitely be interested in that,” Norman said. “I would probably have my back hurting me for about a week, but it would be worth it for me.”